Takahiro Arai was hit by a ball during pre-game practice today. He was running the bases when a batted ball struck him near the left elbow.

Arai told the media he was okay as he left the field. He later got into a taxi with a support brace on his elbow. He returned to the stadium after the start of tonight’s game without the brace and told reporters he was fine and that they should talk to the team trainer.

Takahiro Arai missed four games after he banged his right knee on the ground while playing defense during a game against Rakuten on March 15. He returned to the line-up on March 22 against Orix and went 1-for-2 with a walk and a double.

Takahiro Arai pushed his RBI total to 101 during Saturday’s game against the Yakult Swallows and became the fifth player in NPB history to record 100 RBI during the season they turned thirty-nine or older.

The other four players:

Takeshi Yamasaki with 107 in 2009 at forty-one years and 108 in 2007 at thirty-nine years

Takahiro Arai crossed the plate for the 1,000th time in his career during Thursday’s game against the Yomiuri Giants at Tokyo Dome. The milestone came in the sixth inning when he reached first on a ground out to third, advanced to second on a wild pitch, then scored on a single to center by Seiya Suzuki.

Arai is the forty-first player to record 1,000 runs scored. At thirty-nine years and six months, he is the sixth oldest player to reach the milestone. He scored his 1,000th run in his 2,197th game. Only Yasunori Oshima needed more games (2,347).

Takahiro Arai blasted the 300th home run of his career tonight. The milestone homer came in the second inning with a runner on first, no out, and Masanori Ishikawa on the mound for the Yakult Swallows.

Arai is the forty-second player in NPB history to hit 300 home runs. He set a new record by hitting his 300th home run in his 2,179th game. No other player has needed more games to reach the milestone. The previous record of 1,862 games was set by Makoto Matsubara in 1978. At thirty-nine years and six months, he is the second oldest player to hit 300 home runs. The oldest was Kazuhiro Wada at forty-one years and nine months.

Arai is one of twenty-five players to record both 300 home runs and 2,000 hits.

Takahiro Arai recorded his third four-hit game of the season during a game against the Yomiuri Giants at Mazda Stadium on July 12. He also notched his twenty-first multi-home run game of his career, seventeen with Hiroshima (first since July 1, 2007), and seventh against the Giants.

Arai is now 16-for-27 with four doubles, five home runs, sixteen RBI, and a slash line of .529/.645/1.296 in seven games this month (through July 12).

Arai blasted home runs in consecutive bats against the Yomiuri Giants on April 12, 2017. It was the twenty-second time he hit two home runs in one game over his career, first since July 12, 2016. At forty years and two months, he is the second player in Hiroshima Carp history over forty to accomplish the feat. The other was Sachio Kinugasa on June 14, 1987 at forty years and four months.

Arai recorded a pinch-hit, come-from-behind, three-run home run with two out in the ninth inning of a game against the Yakult Swallows at Jingu Stadium on May 7, 2017.

At forty-years and five months, he became the oldest player in Hiroshima Carp franchise history to record a pinch-hit home run. The previous record of thirty-nine years and ten months was set by Koji Yamamoto on September 11, 1986. Forty-seven home runs have now been hit by players over forty in NPB history. He is the first to record a pinch-hit, come-from-behind home run in the ninth inning with two out.

The pinch-hit home run was the eleventh of his career (tenth in a Hiroshima uniform).

Takahiro Arai became the forty-seventh player in NPB history to reach the 2,000 hit milestone on April 26. The defining moment came in the top of the third against the Yakult Swallows with Yoshihisa Naruse on the mound. Arai hit an 1-0 pitch for an RBI double to left.

Arai is the fifth player in Carp history to reach 2,000 hits. The other four: Sachio Kinugasa, Koji Yamamoto, Kenjiro Nomura, Tomonori Maeda.

Arai recorded his 2,000th hit in his 2,112nd game. Only seven other players required more games. Of the twenty-two players out of college or the Industrial League that reached the milestone, Arai required the most number of games (the previous record was Hiromasa Arai’s 2,027 games).

At thirty-nine years and two months, Arai is the fifteenth oldest player to record 2,000 hits.

Arai’s .277 batting average is thirty-fourth on the list.

Arai was selected in the sixth round out of college. Only one other player was selected in the sixth or later round of the draft: Yutaka Fukumoto in the seventh round out of the Industrial League (no college). Arai is the first to be selected in the sixth round or later out of college. (Thirty players have reached 2,000 hits since the draft was introduced. Breakdown: seven from the first round, eight from the second round, seven from the third round, four from the fourth round, one from the sixth round, one from the seventh round, and two outside of the draft.)

Arai and Hiroki Kokubo (Daiei, Yomiuri, Softbank) are the only players to reach the milestone after leaving and returning to their first team.

Arai (1,530) joined Kiyohara (1,740), Tanishige (1,738), Norihiro Nakamura (1,629), and Koji Akiyama (1,607) as the only players to reach 2,000 hits with 1,500 or more strikeouts (at the time they reached the milestone).

Arai (1,163) joined Nagashima (2,172), Nakamura (1,971), Michiyo Arito (1,774), and Kinugasa (1,638) as the only players to reach 2,000 hits while playing in at least 1,000 games as a third baseman.

TV Ratings for the game (Chugoku Hoso) in Hiroshima was 26.6%. At the moment Arai recorded his 2,000th hit: 20.6%.